12:09 AM,
Jul. 13, 2013

Casey Gerald, second year Harvard MBA student, meets with clients Unique Fields, hair designer, and Alexandria Rogers of Flint while at the Social Club Grooming Company Thursday, July 11, 2013, in Detroit.

Written by

Frank Witsil
Detroit Free Press Business Writer

An off-hand suggestion last fall to take a summer road trip became a much bigger project for four Harvard Business School students that, in many ways, reflects how the depressed economy has shaped the attitudes and ambitions of a generation.

This summer, four friends - Casey Gerald, 26, of Dallas; Amaris Singer, 28, of Albuquerque, N.M; Mike Baker, 27, of Gaithersburg, Md., and Hicham Alaoui, 27, of Casablanca, Morocco - are driving across America in two cars they've dubbed R and V to help budding entrepreneurs and meet business executives.